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sleep-out


an annexe to a house built to provide extra sleeping accommodation. Sometimes achieved by enclosing a wide verandah: The boys can use the sleep-out if the other rooms are occupied. Also, sleepout.

Contributor's comments: As used in and around Melbourne, this can include an outbuilding that has one or more extra beds in it, not just a structure that is joined (annexed) to the main house building.

Contributor's comments: We used the term "sleep-out" in Adelaide in the 50's, where Dad's (South Australian) relatives all used it, and again in Tassie in the 50's and 60's, where Mum's (Tasmanian) relatives all used it, too. In both cases, it referred to an enclosed bit of verandah, usually at the back of the house.

Contributor's comments: I first heard this term when I moved to Brisbane and met my girlfriend who showed me her bedroom which was just the end of the verandah, and when I commented on it she said it's called a sleep-out.


Contributor's comments: [Melbourne informant] an enclosed veranda or small outbuilding/bungalow used for sleeping.

Contributor's comments: When growing up in the 40's/50's, my parents purchased a home on the far Nth Coast of NSW and it had a 'Sleepout'. I shared the Sleepout along with my Grandfather. The Sleepout was a room on the side of the house that had glass louvers extending almost the length of it. Its size (approx) 14 feet by not much more that 7-foot across, as I recall, thus accommodating two single beds end on end along one wall, and was sufficient in size to accommodate a set of drawers in which clothes were stored, etc.

Contributor's comments: I grew up on stations and farms around Mildura and Bordertown (SA) and the Western District (VIC) and slept in many a sleep out. These where ALWAYS closed in louvered veranders both at the front and back of our houses.